The present invention relates to a safety device of a vehicle in which a rear portion of a hood can be lifted up by a lifting device.
When a vehicle hits against a pedestrian, there would be a concern that the pedestrian is pushed up on the hood of the vehicle and then hits indirectly via the hood against a hard member such as an engine that is provided below the hood. Conventionally, in order to avoid this situation a device by which the rear portion of the hood is configured to be lifted up relative to a vehicle body is known. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-348716 discloses a specific structure of such a device, in which there is provided an actuator for lifting (lifting device) that is attached with bolts via an attaching member (reinforcement member) to a front wall of a cowl portion formed in a gutter shape having an opening upward that is disposed below the rear portion of the hood.
Herein, the above-described structure would have a certain problem. Namely, the engine or other components are generally installed in the engine room before attaching some actuators or the like. Accordingly, when the above-described attaching member and actuators are attached by fastening bolts from the engine-room side, operation tools or worker's hand would interfere with these components disposed in the engine room, so such operations could not be conducted efficiently. In some case, it may be necessary for the installed engine or components disposed in the engine room to be removed in order to detach such actuators or the like for their replacements or adjustments. Also, since parts such as a wiper linkage are disposed within the cowl portion, interference with these parts would also need to be paid attention to.
Further, there generally exists a gap between an side edge of the hood and an upper edge of the fender of the vehicle. Accordingly, it may be possible that someone inserts tools or something through this gap and the actuator is removed or tampered with using these. Thus, there is a problem that the actuator would be stolen or tampered as well. Since the above-described actuator is generally operated with a gas generator in which explosives are ignited to produce gas as shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2005-059779, the stealing and tapering of the actuator may need to be prevented surely.